Dear Readers, I should like to wish you all the very best for the Christmas season. May your holidays be filled with joy, grace... and, of course, romance. Not to mention chocolate, and an armful of wonderful reads and somewhere lovely and peaceful to read them!

May the coming year bring you your heart's desire. With warmest wishes, Michelle Douglas

Wishing everyone a Christmas full of blessings and New Year filled with true romance. Lots of love, Fiona Harper x

My wish for everyone this holiday season is Christmas Magic. Make some for your friends and family and take a moment to stop and notice the magic around you. The unexpected smiles, the expression of awe on a child's face, the beautiful music of choirs. - Susan Meier

Warmest wishes for Christmas and for a new year filled with hope for all! Love from Jessica Hart x

I wish readers a happy and safe Christmas with friends and loved ones, and may 2009 be good to us all. Best, Jackie Braun

Wishing for a safe and happy Christmas for All! - Claire Baxter

Merry Christmas and bright holiday blessings to you and yours - here's to a fantastic 2009! - Donna Alward

Wishing you a Merry Christmas full of magic, laughter and love! Melissa McClone

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Today, several of your favourite Romance authors will be attending this year's post party at eHarlequin's Annual Holiday Open House. Please pop over to join in the fun, conversation and a chance to win some fabulous prizes!

Monday, December 08, 2008

This month please welcome bestselling author Shirley Jump to our Spotlight in Six! Shirley's got a new book out in the Brides for All Seasons series, and here she is to tell us a little about herself!

1) Where do you find new and fresh ideas?

My answer probably isn't a lot different from everyone else's--I find ideas everywhere. I read voraciously, everything from Newsweek to Rachael Ray magazine to cereal boxes, and watch so much television, I should just glue one to my forehead. ;-). All that media influence gives me a swirl of ideas floating around in my head. Like with MARRY-ME CHRISTMAS, I thought about food (okay, so I'm ALWAYS thinking about food) and whether a food could make someone fall in love. I've seen all these destination restaurant/shop/diner shows and thought I could combine something like that with a food that made someone fall in love and chose my favorite food--cookies. That's where the idea for MARRY-ME CHRISTMAS came from. I set the story in Riverbend, which was really popular with readers last Christmas (in MIRACLE ON CHRISTMAS EVE) and brought back several favorite characters (including Earl, who gets more of a starring role this time, and a little love story of his own). I used to keep folders with ideas but they were starting to take over my filing cabinet, and I found that I kept having so many new ideas I didn't get back to the old ones. So now I just let them file away in the old noggin', and somehow they shuffle out when I need them.

2) Writers often use photos of celebrities as "casting". Do you do this, and who has inspired some of your characters?

I don't use any photos or images of anyone. I find it distracts me to base my characters on anyone real. I want them to form themselves, with their own looks, personalities and quirks. A few times, I've had to provide the art department with a photo of a character, and that's been tough, because I can see the character in my mind, but there is no one person who looks like my character, if that makes sense. They are as individual as my brother and sister, as quirky as my cousins and aunts and uncles (apologies to the fam ;-) and as unique as anyone you know in your life.

3) What are your favourite and least favourite parts of writing a novel? Is there a particular section that you struggle with?

I call the beginning of the book the "honeymoon" phase. It's like meeting a new person. You really, really like them. You can't WAIT to get to know them more, to hear their story. To see them again and again. I'm writing and writing and writing, dying to see what happens next. I get about a third to halfway in, and then--

The book begins to stall. I start writing one word at a time. Every sentence is a chore. I don't like these people all that much. I've spent way too much time with them and they are SO uncooperative. That's when I know it's time to go back and revise. I do a pretty massive revision at this point of the book, looking for all those clues that will tell me how to move forward. I'm more of a pantser than a plotter, so my subconscious usually buries everything that I need back in the original few chapters. There's that offhand remark by the hero about a girlfriend in the past, or the heroine's single reference to a tragedy. That starts my brain moving and asking all the questions that deepen the middle and move the book forward. Then I get to the point a couple chapters before the end, and I am stuck again.

That's when the next massive revision happens, and probably the time when I am the worst person to live with. I am writing the black moment of the book, when things seem the worst for the characters, and it seems there is no way they can solve their problems--and to me, as the author, I can't see a way out either. I go back and reread, and revise, and thank goodness, that trusty subconscious has buried little nuggets again, and I can write the rest. But those two stopping points are the worst for me as I puzzle through the turns in the plot.

4) When you are not writing, what do you do? How do you pamper yourself?

Anyone who knows me knows I am a shopper. I love the mall, love to get out there and shop! I just finished a book, and have a revision to turn in before the middle of the month, then I'm free for the holidays--to shop! I love, love, love shoes, and those are probably my biggest downfall. I also LOVE to cook. My blog (http://www.shirleyjump.blogspot.com/) is all about cooking. I post recipes most days of the week, and also do a writing lesson three times a month on Mondays. Cooking is my "downtime" thing and it really relaxes me. I'm one of those quick and easy cooks, though, so I'm usually in and out with most recipes in a half hour, hour tops. And the dishes are always left for someone else ;-).

5) Imagine you're stranded - where are you and who are you with?

Besides my family? And a whole lot of books to read? Because seriously, I'd want them and a LOT of books to read! That's the one thing I do on vacation, is read CONSTANTLY. I don't get nearly enough time to read when I'm working, and I've been known to read 10 or 12 books in a week when we go on vacation. And I don't get near enough time with my family when I'm on deadline, because my head is buried in my laptop, so I'd love more time with my kids and husband. So strand me with them ;-)

6) Finally, Shirley, please tell us what's up and coming for you in the months ahead!So much! I am contracted all the way through the rest of next year, so I'll be busy writing all year. This month, I have a Harlequin Romance, MARRY-ME CHRISTMAS and a new single title out with Zebra, SIMPLY THE BEST. Then in February, a Harlequin Diamond Anniversary release, THE BRIDESMAID AND THE BILLIONAIRE. In June, I'll have another Romance, DOORSTEP DADDY, plus a new Christmas book in October, A PRINCESS FOR CHRISTMAS. And my second release for Next, AROUND THE BED, is being released in August, with a second printing of THE OTHER WIFE. Also, my first collaboration with my daughter, THE WELL, a horror young adult, will be released in September 2009 under the pen name AJ Whitten by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Graphia imprint. I think I'll be sleeping in December ;-).

Um Shirley...you do realize that's EIGHT releases, right? (does it make you wonder when she has time to sleep? Cook? Watch tv?)

Shirley's giving away a copy of last season's MIRACLE ON CHRISTMAS EVE! Just send an e-mail to hrablog@hotmail.com with the subject line SHIRLEY and we'll draw at the end of the month!

Monday, December 01, 2008

The hardheaded, dyed-in-the-wool cowboy had been called many things…but could he ever be called husband and daddy?

With her newborn and toddler in tow, struggling widow Elizabeth Ransom stepped onto the Ransom Ranch looking for the family she'd never had. Luckily the children's grandfather welcomed them with open arms. But it was the blue-eyed ranch manager whom Elizabeth dreamed of….Jack Clayton had to leave now that the Oklahoma ranch was no longer for sale. But the lovely Elizabeth would be tough to walk away from….

Brooding Italian Drago di Luca and reserved lawyer Alysa Dennis are brought together by a shocking, shared betrayal—their late partners had been having an affair!

But against all the odds, they strike an unlikely friendship, and forbidden awareness simmers….Alysa's calm facade hides a painful secret that haunts her every time she looks into the soulful eyes of Drago's motherless child. As the attraction builds between them, Christmas approaches with the promise of a new start. Can the healing miracle of love, and the joy of the season, make them a family?

Police officer Brody Taggert has his reasons for hating Christmas. But Lila Grainger's arrival in Snow Mountain tilts his carefully balanced world sideways.

When they are snowbound in a log cabin, beautiful and vibrant Lila begins to break down the armor around Brody's heart…but the glimmer of sadness in her eyes makes Brody want to rescue her right back. As Lila and Brody help heal each other's hearts, they realize they don't ever want to leave their snowbound shelter….

Millionaire lawyer Jared Johnson prefers to spend Christmas alone, usually working. Yet when he rescues a damsel in distress—along with her cute baby, Molly—and finds himself driving them home for the holidays, he's reluctantly drawn to this tiny family.

Elise hopes to make a home for herself and Molly in the picture-perfect town of Four Corners, but soon she knows only gorgeous Jared can make their lives complete. Her dearest wish? That he'll stay for Molly's first Christmas—and forever!

Samantha Barnett would describe herself as an ordinary girl. Flynn McGranger would call her beautiful—if he weren't about to destroy her career.

A rich, successful journalist, Flynn aims to write a scathing review of Samantha's little bakery. He never mixes business with pleasure. But the secrets she's clearly keeping intrigue him, and her innocence has caught him off guard….What's happened to him? He's being ridiculous! The Christmas-coated town has gone to his head. Or has this small-town girl unlocked the city slicker's heart?

She's pregnant, single and wants to settle down. Australian travel writer Lyssa Belperio may be pregnant and alone, but she can't wait to be a mom. A job offer on Italy's Amalfi Coast gives her the chance to make a fresh start….

He's a soccer player with a celebrity lifestyle.

But there is more to the Italian playboy Ric Rosetti than he lets the world see. Lyssa is different from the glamorous women who hang on his every word. She's not impressed by his fame and fortune, so the only way for Ric to win Lyssa's heart is to show her the man behind the headlines!